Library  of 
The  University  of  North  Carolina 


COLLECTION  OF 
NORTH  CAROLINI/vNA 


ENDOWED  BY 
JOHN  8PRUNT  HILr. 

of  the  Ciass  (3f  1889 


iliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiniiiiiii 
00006776C 


This  BOOK  may  be  kept  out  TWO 
WEEKS  ONLY,  and  is  subject  to  a  tine 
uf  FIVE  CENTS  a  day  thereafter.  It  was 
taken  out  on  the  day  indicated  below: 


l5May'30M 


V 


JOHN-M-MORLHLAD 

1796-  1866 


\ 


EXERCISES  IN  CONNECTION 


WITH  THE 


PRESENTATION  TO  THE  STATE 


BY  THE 


North  Carolina  Historical  Commission 


OF  A  BUST 

OF 

JOHN  MOTLEY  MOREHEAD 

C'^r^^.^r.     K    'O     W 


Hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives, 
December  4,  1912 


CIS 


Introductory  Note 


On  Decemt»er  4,  1912,  in  the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  and 
in  the  rotunda  of  the  State  Capitol,  the  North  Carolina  Historical  Commis- 
sion presented  to  the  State  a  handsome  marble  bust  of  John  Motley  More- 
head,  Governor  of  North  Carolina,  1840-1844.  The  bust  was  a  donation  to  the 
Commission  from  Governor  Morehead's  grandsons,  John  Motley  Morehead  and 
J.  Lindsay  Patterson,  and  was  executed  by  the  wellknown  sculptor,  Frederick 
Wellington  Ruckstuhl.  The  exercises  in  connection  with  the  presentation 
consisted  of  an  address  on  "John  Motley  Morehead:  Architect  and  Builder  of 
Public  Works,"  by  R.  D.  W.  Connor;  the  Address  of  Presentation,  by  Hon.  J. 
Bryan  Grimes,  Chairman  of  the  North  Carolina  Historical  Commission;  and 
the  Address  of  Acceptance  on  behalf  of  the  Governor,  by  Hon.  J.  Y.  Joyner, 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 


John  Motley  Morehead:    Architect  and  Builder  of 

Public  Works' 


By  R.  D.  W.  Connor. 

An  Addbess  Delivered  in  the  Hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  Decem- 
ber 4,  1912,  UPON  THE  Presentation  to  the  State  of  a  Bust  of 
Governor  Morehead  by  the  North  Carolina 
Historical  Commission. 


Along  the  line  of  the  I^orth  Carolina  Kailroad,  from  its  eastern 
terminus  at  Goldsboro  to  its  western  terminus  at  Charlotte,  lie  eleven 
counties  embracing  six  thousand  square  miles  of  territory,  now  one  of 
the  most  prosperous  and  productive  regions  in  North  Carolina.  During 
the  decade  from  1840  to  1850,  perhaps  no  other  State  on  the  entire  At- 
lantic seaboard  could  have  exhibited  a  stretch  of  country  of  equal  area 
which  presented  to  the  patriotic  citizen  so  discouraging  a  prospect  or  so 
hopeless  an  outlook.  Such  a  citizen  traversing  this  region  would  have 
found  public  roads  and  methods  of  travel  and  transportation  that  were 
primitive  when  George  III  claimed  the  allegiance  of  the  American  col- 
onies. Delays,  inconveniences,  and  discomforts  were  the  least  of  the  evils 
that  beset  the  traveler  who  entrusted  life  and  limbs  to  the  public  convey- 
ances of  that  period.2  The  cost  of  transportation  was  so  great  that  the 
profits  of  one  half  the  planters'  crops  were  consumed  in  getting  the 
other  half  to  market,  and  hundreds  of  them  found  it  profitless  to  pro- 

iJohn  Motley  Morehead  was  born  in  Pittsylvania  County,  Virginia,  July  4,  1796,  son  of  John 
Morehead  and  Obedience  Motley.  In  1798  his  parents  moved  to  Rockingham  County,  North  Caro- 
lina, where  John  grew  to  manhood.  He  was  prepared  for  college  partly  under  the  private  instruction 
of  Thomas  Settle  and  partly  at  the  Academy  of  Dr.  David  Caldwell,  near  Greensboro.  He  afterwards 
entered  the  University  of  North  Carolina,  from  which  he  was  graduated  in  1817.  In  his  junior  year 
he  was  appointed  a  tutor  in  the  University.  From  1828  to  1866  he  served  on  the  Board  of  Trustees, 
and  in  1849  was  President  of  the  Alumni  Association.  Morehead  was  the  sixth  alumnus  of  the  Uni- 
versity to  become  Governor  of  North  Carolina.  After  his  graduation  from  the  University  he  studied 
law  under  Archibald  D.  Murphey.  In  1819,  receiving  his  license  to  practice,  he  settled  at  Wentworth, 
county  seat  of  Rockingham  County,  where  he  lived  until  his  marriage  to  Miss  Ann  Eliza  Lindsay, 
eldest  daughter  of  Col.  Robert  Lindsay,  of  Guilford  County.  He  removed  to  Greensboro  which  con- 
tinued to  be  his  home  during  the  rest  of  his  life. 

2"  The  road  [from  Weldon  to  Gaston]  was  as  bad  as  anything,  under  the  name  of  a  road,  can  be 
conceived  to  be.  Whenever  the  adjoining  swamps,  fallen  trees,  stumps,  and  plantation  fences  would 
admit  of  it,  the  coach  was  driven,  with  a  great  deal  of  dexterity,  out  of  the  road.  When  the  wheels 
sunk  in  the  mud,  below  the  hubs,  we  were  sometimes  requested  to  get  out  and  walk.  An  upset  seemed 
every  moment  ine\-itable.  At  length,  it  came."— Frederick  Law  Olmsted.  "A  Journey  in  the  bea- 
board  Slave  States,"  1853-1854.  Vol.  I,  page  348.  "From  personal  observations,  I  have  found  the 
roads  leading  from  Raleigh  westward,  for  the  distance  of  fifty  or  sixty  miles,  *,,„,.  _  decid- 
edly the  worst  in  the  State."- Governor  Morehead's  message  to  the  Legislature  of  1842.  Journal  ot 
the  General  Assembly,  page  409. 


6  Ceremonies  in  Connection  with  Presentation  of 

duce  more  than  their  own  families  could  use.^  In  1853  a  traveler, 
within  thirty  miles  of  the  State  Capitol,  saw  "three  thousand  barrels 
of  an  article  worth  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  barrel  in  ]!^ew  York,  thrown 
away,  a  mere  heap  of  useless  offal,  because  it  would  cost  more  to 
transport  it  than  it  would  be  worth."^ 

Under  such  conditions  there  could  be,  of  course,  no  commerce,  and 
without  commerce  no  markets.  Such  commerce  as  the  produce  of  the 
fertile  valleys  and  plateaux  of  the  Piedmont  section  created  found  its 
way  to  the  markets  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina ;' and  among  the 
people  who  dwelt  west  of  Greensboro,  declared  Governor  Morehead  in 
1842,  "Cheraw,  Camden,  Columbia,  *  *  *  Augusta,  and  Charles- 
ton are  much  more  familiarly  known  than  even  Fayetteville  and 
Raleigh."^  In  all  the  region  from  Goldsboro  to  Charlotte,  Raleigh, 
then  a  straggling  country  village,  was  the  only  town  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  be  noted  in  the  United  States  census  of  1850.  This  section, 
now  the  heart  of  the  manufacturing  region  of  the  South,  reported  to 
the  census  takers  of  that  year  no  other  manufactures  than  a  handful 
of  "homemade"  articles  valued  at  $396,473.  The  social  and  labor  sys- 
tems upon  which  the  civilization  of  the  State  was  founded  confined  the 
energies  of  the  people  almost  exclusively  to  agriculture,  yet  their  farm- 
ing operations  were  so  crude  and  unproductive  that  a  traveler,  comment- 
ing on  the  agriculture  in  the  vicinity  of  Raleigh,  found  it  "a  mystery 
how  a  town  of  2,500  inhabitants  can  obtain  sufficient  supplies  from  it  to 
exist. "^  This  was  not  the  view  merely  of  an  unsympathetic  stranger. 
Calvin  H.  Wiley,  attempting  to  arouse  his  fellow  members  of  the  Legis- 
lature of  1852  from  their  indifference  and  lethargy,  after  referring  to 
the  "magnificent  capitol"  in  which  they  sat,  exclaimed,  "But  what  is 
the  view  from  these  porticoes,  and  what  do  we  see  as  we  travel  hither? 
Wasted  fields  and  decaying  tenements;  long  stretches  of  silent  desola- 
tion with  here  and  there  a  rudely  cultivated  farm  and  a  tottering 
barn."''' 

But  more  forcible  than  any  other  evidence,  because  incontrovertible, 
is  the  testimony  of  the  United  States  census.  'The  census  reports  of 
1840  show  that  nearly  one-third  of  the  adult  white  population  of  the 
State  could  neither  read  nor  write.    The  population  of  the  State  was  at 

'Speaking  of  the  building  of  a  turnpike,  from  Raleigh  westward,  Governor  Morehead  in  his  message 
of  1842,  said:  "Labor  can  not  be  difficult  to  obtain  in  a  region  now  growing  cotton  at  six  cents  per 
pound,  corn  at  one  dollar  per  barrel,  and  wheat  so  low  that  it  takes  one  half  to  transport  the  other  to 
market."—  Journals  of  the  Legislature  1842-'43,  page  41L  "A  farmer  told  me  that  he  considered  twenty- 
five  bushels  of  corn  a  large  crop,  and  that  he  generally  got  as  much  as  fifteen.  He  said  that  no  money 
was  to  be  got  by  raising  corn,  and  very  few  farmers  here  [about  ten  miles  from  Raleigh]  'made'  any 
more  than  they  needed  for  their  own  force.  It  cost  too  much  to  get  it  to  market."— Olmsted,  "Sea- 
board Slave  States,"  Vol.  I,  page  .358. 

♦Olmsted:    A  Journey  in  the  Seaboard  Slave  States.    1853-1854.    Vol.  I,  page  369. 

^Annual  Message.    Legislative  Journals,  1842-'43,  page  409. 

•Olmsted. 

^Speech  in  favor  of  his  bill  to  appoint  a  State  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools. 


Bust  of  John  M.  Morehead  7 

a  standstill.  From  1830  to  1840,  thirty-two  of  the  sixty-eight  counties 
of  Worth  Carolina  lost  in  population,  while  the  increase  in  the  State  as 
a  whole  was  less  than  two  and  a  half  per  cent.^  The  best  blood  of  Worth 
Carolina,  refusing  to  remain  at  home  and  stagnate,  was  flowing  in  a 
steady  stream  into  the  vast  and  fertile  regions  of  the  South  and  West; 
and  that  brain  and  energy  which  should  have  been  utilized  in  developing 
the  resources  of  Worth  Carolina  was  being  forced  to  seek  an  outlet  in 
other  regions  where  it  went  to  lay  the  foundations  of  Alabama,  Missis- 
sippi, and  Texas,  of  Ohio,  Illinois,  and  Indiana.  Dr.  Wiley  was  guilty 
of  no  exaggeration  when  he  declared  that  Worth  Carolina  had  "long 
been  regarded  by  her  own  citizens  as  a  mere  nursery  to  grow  up  in"; 
that  the  State  had  become  a  great  camping  ground  on  which  the  inhabi- 
tants were  merely  tenanted  for  a  while;  and  that  thousands  were  annu- 
ally seeking  homes  elsewhere  whose  sacrifices  in  moving  would  have 
paid  for  twenty  years  their  share  of  taxation  sufficient  to  give  to  Worth 
Carolina  all  the  fancied  advantages  of  those  regions  whither  they  went 
to  be  taxed  with  disease  and  suffering.  The  melancholy  sign  "For 
Sale"  seemed  plowed  in  deep  black  characters  over  the  whole  State,  and 
the  State  flag  which  floated  over  the  Capitol  was  jestingly  called  by  our 
neighbors  of  Virginia  and  South  Carolina  an  auctioneer's  sign.  "The 
ruinous  effects,"  said  he,  "are  eloquently  recorded  in  deserted  farms,  in 
wide  wastes  of  guttered  sedgefields,  in  neglected  resources,  in  the  absence 
of  improvements,  and  in  the  hardships,  sacrifices  and  sorrows  of  con- 
stant emigration." 

Such  was  the  view  which  Central  Worth  Carolina  presented  to  the 
keen  eyes  of  John  M.  Morehead  when,  in  the  closing  days  of  1840,  he 
journeyed  from  Greensboro  to  Raleigh  to  assume  his  duties  and  responsi- 
bilities as  Chief  Magistrate  of  the  Commonwealth.  As  desolate  as  the 
prospect  was,  however,  Morehead's  foresight  saw  in  it  not  a  little  to 
give  him  courage.  He  must  have  realized  that  Worth  Carolina  was 
standing  at  the  turn  of  the  road  and  that  much  depended  on  the  wisdom 
and  prudence  with  which  he  himself  directed  her  choice  of  future  routes. 
Four  years  before  a  new  Constitution,  profoundly  affecting  the  political 
life  of  the  State,  had  gone  into  operation,  from  which  Morehead,  and 
other  leaders  who  thought  as  he  did,  had  prophesied  great  results  for 
the  upbuilding  of  the  State.  This  new  Constitution  had  paved  the  way 
for  the  work  of  a  small  group  of  constructive  statesmen,  of  whom  More- 
head  was  now  the  chosen  leader,  who  were  destined  to  direct  and  lead  the 
public  thought  of  Worth  Carolina  during  the  quarter  century  from 
1835  to  1860. 
,  Among  these  men  two  distinct  types  of  genius  were  represented.    On 

sPopulation  in  1830,  737,987;  in  1840,  753,409. 
3 


8  Ceremonies  in  Connection  with  Presentation  of 

the  one  hand  there  were  the  dreamers, — men  who  had  the  power  of 
vision  to  see  what  the  future  held  in  store  for  their  country,  who  wrote 
and  spoke  forcibly  of  what  they  foresaw,  but  lacked  the  power  to  con- 
vince men  of  the  practicability  of  their  visions.  On  the  other  hand 
there  were  the  so  called  practical  men, — men  who  knew  well  enough  how 
to  construct  what  other  men  had  planned,  but  lacked  the  power  of 
vision  necessary  to  see  beyond  the  common  everyday  affairs  that  sur- 
rounded and  engrossed  them.  Once  in  an  age  appears  that  rare  indi- 
vidual, both  architect  and  contractor,  both  poet  and  man  of  action,  to 
whom  is  given  both  the  power  to  dream  and  the  power  to  execute.  Such 
men  write  themselves  deep  in  their  country's  annals  and  make  the 
epochs  of  history. 

^  In  the  history  of  North  Carolina  such  a  man  was  John  M.  Morehead. 
Those  v/ho  have  written  and  spoken  of  Governor  Morehead  heretofore 
have  been  chiefly  impressed  with  his  great  practical  wisdom,^  and  this 
he  certainly  had  as  much  as  any  other  man  in  our  history.  As  for 
myself,  what  most  impresses  me  after  a  careful  study  of  his  life  and 
works,  is  his  wonderful  power  of  vision.  He  was  our  most  visionary 
builder,  our  greatest  practical  dreamer.  K"o  other  man  of  his  day  had 
so  clear  a  vision  of  the  future  to  which  I^orth  Carolina  was  destined,  or 
did  so  much  to  bring  about  its  realization  as  Governor  Morehead.  It  is 
no  exaggeration  to  say  that  we  have  not  now  in  process  of  construction, 
and  have  not  had  since  his  day,  a  single  great  work  of  internal  improve- 
ment of  which  he  did  not  dream  and  for  which  he  did  not  labor.  He 
dreamed  of  great  lines  of  railroad  binding  together  not  only  all  sections 
of  ITorth  Carolina,  but  connecting  this  State  with  every  part  of  the 
American  Union.  He  dreamed  of  a  network  of  improved  country  roads 
leading  from  every  farm  in  the  State  to  all  her  markets.  He  dreamed 
of  a  great  central  highway,  fed  by  these  roads,  finding  its  origin  in  the 
waters  of  the  Atlantic  at  Morehead  City  and  finally  losing  itself  in  the 
clouds  that  hang  about  the  crests  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  He  dreamed  of 
the  day  when  the  channels  of  our  rivers  would  be  so  deepened  and 
widened  that  they  could  bear  upon  their  waters  our  share  of  the  com- 
merce of  the  world..  He  dreamed  of  an  inland  waterway  connecting  the 
harbor  of  Beaufort  with  the  waters  of  Pamlico  Sound  and  through  the 
opening  of  Roanoke  Inlet,  affording  a  safe  inland  passage  for  coastwise 
vessels  around  the  whitecaps  of  Cape  Hatteras.  He  dreamed  of  the 
day  when  the  flags  of  all  nations  might  be  seen  floating  from  the  mast- 
heads of  their  fleets  riding  at  anchor  in  the  harbors  of  Beaufort  and 


•Kerr,  John,  "Oration  on  the  Life  and  Character  of  John  M.  Morehead";  In  Memoriam  of  John 
M.  Morehead,  Raleieh,  186S;  Scott,  William  Lafayette,  "Tribute  to  the  Genius  and  Worth  of  John  M. 
Morehead";  Ibid:  Smith,  C  Alphonso,  "John  Motley  Morehead";  The  Biographical  History  of  North 
Carolina,  Vol.  VI,  pp.  250-258;  Wooten,  Council,  "Governor  Morehead";  Charlotte  Daily  Observer, 
September  30,  1901. 


Bust  of  John  M.  Morehead  9 

Wilmington.  He  dreamed  of  a  chain  of  mills  and  factories  dotting 
eA^ery  river  bank  in  the  State  and  distributing  over  these  highways  of 
commerce  a  variety  of  products  bearing  the  brand  of  North  Carolina 
manufacturers. 

Such  were  his  dreams,  and  the  history  of  ISTorth  Carolina  during  the 
last  half-century  is  largely  the  story  of  their  realization.  It  is  this 
fact  that  gives  to  Morehead  his  unique  place  in  our  history.  He  had  a 
distinguished  political  career,  but  his  fame  is  not  the  fame  of  the  office 
holder.  10  Indeed,  no  other  man  in  our  history,  save  Charles  B.  Aycock 
alone,  in  so  brief  a  public  career,  made  so  deep  an  impression  on  the  life 
of  the  State.  The  explanation  is  simple.  The  public  service  of  each 
was  inspired  by  a  genuine  love  of  the  State  and  consecrated  to  the 
accomplishment  of  a  great  purpose.  The  educational  and  intellectual 
development  which  Aycock  stimulated  was  based  on  the  material  pros- 
perity of  which  Morehead  laid  the  foundation.  It  is,  then,  his  service 
as  architect  and  builder  of  great  and  enduring  public  works  that  gives 
to  Morehead  his  distinctive  place  in  our  annals,  and  it  is  of  this  service 
that  I  shall  speak  today. 

When  Morehead  began  his  public  career  the  prevailing  political 
thought  of  the  State  was,  in  modern  political  vernacular,  reactionary. 
Representation  was  distributed  equally  among  the  counties,  regardless 
of  population.  East  of  Raleigh,  where  the  institution  of  slavery  was 
most  strongly  entrenched,  thirty-five  counties  with  a  combined  popula- 
tion of  294,312,  sent  to  the  General  Assembly  sixteen  more  Commoners 
and  eight  more  Senators  than  twenty-seven  counties  west  of  Raleigh 
which  had  a  combined  population  of  50,205  more  people.  A  property 
qualification  was  requisite  for  membership  in  the  General  Assembly  and 
inasmuch  as  all  State  officials  were  elected  by  the  Legislature,  not  by 
the  people  directly.  Property,  not  Men,  controlled  the  government.  The 
theory  of  Property  was  that  the  best  government  is  that  which  governs 
least.  Adherents  of  this  school  of  politics  taught,  therefore,  that  gov- 
ernment had  fulfilled  its  mission  when  it  had  preserved  order,  pun- 
ished crime,  and  kept  down  the  rate  of  taxation.  But  another  school  of 
political  thought,  originating  in  the  counties  west  of  Raleigh,  where  the 
institution  of  slavery  had  not  secured  so  strong  a  foothold,  was  now 
beginning  to  make  itself  heard.     Its  adherents  favored  a  constitutional 


loin  1821  he  represented  Rockingham  County  in  the  House  of  Commons;  in  1826,  1827  and  1858  he 
represented  Guilford  County  in  the  House,  and  in  1860  in  the  Senate.  He  was  one  of  the  delegates 
from  Guilford  in  the  Convention  of  lS3o.  In  1S40  he  was  elected  Governor,  and  in  1842  wasre-elected. 
He  was  the  permanent  presiding  officer  of  the  National  Whig  Convention,  which  met  at  Philadelphia, 
June  7,  1848,  and  nominated  General  Zachary  Taylor  for  the  Presidency.  By  the  act  establishing 
the  North  Carolina  Insane  Asylum  he  was  designated  as  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Cornmissi oners 
to  locate  and  build  the  asylum.  In  1857  he  was  elected  President  of  the  association  organized  for  the 
purpose  of  erectine:  at  Greensboro  a  monument  to  General  Nathanael  Greene.  He  was  one  of  the 
delegates  from  North  Carolina  to  the  Peace  Congress  at  Washington  in  1861.  In  1861-'62  he  was  a 
member  of  the  Provisional  Congress  of  the  Confederate  States.  He  died  at  Greensboro,  August  27. 
1866. 


10  Ceremonies  in  Connection  with  Presentation  of 

convention  to  revise  the  basis  of  representation,  to  give  to  the  people 
the  right  to  elect  their  chief  magistrate,  and  in  other  respects  to  make 
the  government  popular  in  practice  as  well  as  in  form ;  and  they  advo- 
cated internal  improvements,  geological  surveys,  the  conservation  of 
resources,  asylums  for  the  insane,  public  schools,  schools  for  the  deaf 
and  dumb  and  for  the  blind,  and  numerous  other  progressive  measures 
which  all  right  thinking  people  now  acknowledge  to  be  governmental  in 
their  nature.     These  men  were  the  Progressives  of  their  day. 

Morehead  found  his  place  among  these  Progressives.  As  a  member 
of  the  General  Assembly  he  was  among  the  foremost  in  advocating  a  con- 
stitutional convention.  He  supported  measures  for  the  building  of 
good  roads,  for  the  digging  of  canals,  for  the  improvement  of  inland 
navigation,  for  drainage  of  swamps,  and  for  railroad  surveys.^^  He 
opposed  a  bill  to  prevent  the  education  of  negroes,  moved  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  select  committee  on  the  colonization  of  slaves,  introduced  a 
bill  providing  for  their  emancipation  under  certain  conditions,  and 
displayed  so  much  interest  in  measures  for  the  amelioration  of  the  con- 
ditions of  the  slaves  that  his  opponents,  when  he  became  a  candidate 
for  Governor,  charged  him  with  being  at  heart  an  Abolitionist. ^^  He 
endeavored  to  secure  the  appropriation  of  funds  for  the  collection  of 
material  for  the  preservation  of  the  history  of  J^Torth  Carolina^'^  and 
took  a  deep  interest  in  all  measures  for  the  promotion  of  public  educa- 
tion. In  1827,  while  he  was  chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Education, 
a  bill  came  before  his  committee  to  repeal  the  Act  of  1825  which  had 
created  the  Literary  Fund  "for  the  establishment  of  common  schools." 
Morehead  submitted  the  report  of  the  committee,  in  which  he  said : 

Your  committee  believe  that  the  passage  of  that  act  [to  establish  common 
schools]  must  have  been  greeted  by  every  philanthropist  and  friend  of  civil 
liberty  as  the  foundation  on  which  was  to  rest  the  future  happiness  of  our 
citizens  and  the  perpetuity  of  our  political  institutions.  *  *  *  From  the 
very  nature  of  our  civil  institutions,  the  people  must  act;  it  is  wisdom  and 
policy  to  teach  them  to  act  from  the  lights  of  reason,  and  not  from  the  blind 
impulse  of  deluded  feeling.  *  *  *  Independent  of  any  political  influence 
that  general  education  might  have,  your  committee  are  of  opinion  that  any 
State  or  sovereign,  having  the  means  at  command,  are  morally  criminal  if  they 
neglect  to  contribute  to  each  citizen  or  subject  that  individual  usefulness  and 
happiness  which  arises  from  a  well  cultured  understanding.  *  *  *  Your 
committee  can  not  conceive  a  nobler  idea  than  that  of  the  genius  of  our  coun- 


"In  the  Legislature  of  1821  he  voted  with  the  minority  for  a  resolution  providing  for  the  calling 
of  a  Constitutional  Convention;  for  a  bill  "to  provide  an  additional  fund  for  internal  improvements"; 
in  1826,  for  a  bill  to  improve  the  navigation  of  the  Cape  Fear  River  below  Wilmington,  and  for  a  sim- 
ilar bill  in  1827;  for  the  survey  of  a  route  for  a  railroad  from  New  Bern  through  Raleigh,  to  the  western 
counties. 

i^The  Raleigh  Standard  called  him  an  Abolitionist  because  as  a  Member  of  the  Legislature  he  "drew 
a  report  against  the  proposition  of  Mr.  Stedman,  from  Chatham,  forbidding  the  instruction  of  slaves." 
Quoted  in  the  Raleigh  Register,  January  3,  1840. 

I'He  introduced  a  resolution  to  advance  money  from  the  Literary  Fund  to  be  used  "in  aiding  Archi- 
bald D.  Murphey,  of  Orange  County,  in  ^^Titing  and  publishing  the  History  of  this  State,"  to  be  repaid 
from  the  proceeds  of  a  lottery  authorized  by  the  Legislature  for  the  purpose. 


Bust  of  John  M.  Morehead  11 

try,  hovering  over  the  tattered  son  of  some  miserable  hovel,  leading  his  in* 
fant  but  gigantic  mind  in  the  paths  of  useful  knowledge,  and  pointing  out 
to  his  noble  ambition  the  open  way  by  which  talented  merit  may  reach  the 
highest  honors  and  preferments  of  our  government. 

The  committee,  accordingly,  unanimously  recommended  the  rejection 
of  the  bill  to  discontinue  the  Literary  Fund.^^  The  recommendation 
was  accepted,  the  bill  was  lost,  the  Literary  Fund  was  saved,  and  the 
foundation  on  which  our  common  school  system  was  afterwards  built 
was  preserved  intact. 

In  the  Convention  of  1835,  in  which  he  represented  Guilford  County, 
Morehead  supported  the  amendments  offered  to  the  Constitution  de- 
signed to  democratize  the  State  Government.  Two  of  these  amendments 
in  particular  have  had  a  far  reaching  influence  on  our  history.  One  of 
them  placed  representation  in  the  House  of  Commons  on  a  basis  of 
Federal  population;  the  other  took  away  from  the  Legislature  the  elec- 
tion of  the  Governor  and  gave  it  to  the  people.  To  this  latter  change 
we  may  trace  the  origin  of  two  of  the  most  important  political  institu- 
tions of  our  own  day, — the  party  State  Convention  and  the  preelection 
canvass  of  the  State  by  the  nominees  for  State  offices. 

The  first  party  State  Convention  ever  held  in  N^orth  Carolina  was 
the  Whig  Convention  which  met  in  Raleigh,  ^N'ovember  12,  1839,  and 
nominated  John  M.  Morehead  for  Governor.i^  Reading  the  contem- 
porary newspaper  reports  of  this  Convention  shortly  after  attending 
the  last  State  Convention  held  in  this  city  in  June  of  the  present  year, 
one  is  greatly  impressed  with  the  marked  contrast  in  the  two  bodies. 
They  were  typical  of  the  political  conditions  of  the  two  eras  in  which 
they  were  held.  The  latter  with  its  more  than  one  thousand  cheering, 
shouting,  declaiming  delegates,  uncontrolled  and  uncontrollable,  was 
truly  representative  of  the  aggressive  direct  democracy  of  the  twentieth 
century.  The  former  with  its  ninety-one  sober,  orderly,  deliberative 
gentlemen  of  the  old  school,  thoroughly  responsive  to  the  mallet  of  their 
chairman,  was  just  as  truly  representative  of  the  staid,  self-restrained, 
representative  democracy  of  the  early  nineteenth  century. 

"Coon.  Charles  L.:    Public  Education  in  North  Carolina,  1790-1840;  Vol.  T,  pa»e  376. 

i^Ex-Gov.  John  Owen,  delegate  from  Bladen,  presided.  A  General  Committee  of  Thirteen,  one 
from  each  Congressional  District,  was  appointed  "to  take  into  consideration  the  purposes  for  which 
the  Convention  bad  assembled"  and  to  report  thereon.  November  13th,  this  committee  reported, 
among  other  resolutions,  the  following:  "Resolved,  That  having  been  inspired  with  a  deep  and  lively 
sense  of  the  eminent  practical  vigor,  sound  Republican  principles,  unblemished  public  and  private 
virtues,  ardent  patriotism  and  decided  abilities  of  John  M.  Morehead,  of  the  County  of  Guilford,  we 
do  accordingly  recommend  him  to  our  fellow  citizens  as  a  fit  successor  to  our  present  enlightened 
Chief  Magistrate,  Governor  Dudley."— Adopted  unanimously.  The  platform  of  the  Convention 
favored:  (1)  Economy  in  government;  (2)  Reform  in  the  revenue  system;  (3)  Reduction  in  the  num- 
ber of  government  employees;  (4)  Selection  of  government  employees  "without  discrimination  of  par- 
ties"; (5)  An  Amendment  to  the  Federal  Constitution  to  abolish  the  Electoral  College;  (6)  One  term 
of  four  years  for  the  President;  (7)  A  National  Bank;  (H)  A  division  of  the  proceeds  of  public  lands 
among  the  States  on  a  basis  of  Federal  population;  (9)  Public  education;  (10)  Strict  Construction  of 
the  Constitution.  It  opposed;  (1)  Jackson's  Spoil  System;  (2)  Appointment  of  Members  of  Congress 
to  Federal  offices  during  their  terms  in  Congress;  (3)  flaking  judicial  appointments  for  partisan  rea- 
sons; (4)  Interference  of  Federal  Officers  in  elections;  (5)  Protective  tariff;  (6)  The  Federal  Government's 
making  internal  improvements  "except  such  as  may  be  stampt  with  a  national  character";  (7)  The 
Sub-Treasury  scheme;  (8)  Federal  interference  with  slavery. 


12  Ceremonies  in  Connection  with  Presentation  of 

Morehead's  election  as  Governor  followed  a  campaign  that  is 
memorable  in  the  history  of  ISTorth  Carolina  as  the  first  in  which 
candidates  for  public  office  ever  made  a  canvass  of  the  State.^^ 
But  in  other  respects  also  his  election  and  inauguration  as  Chief  Execu- 
tive marks  a  turning  point  in  our  history.  He  was  the  first  Governor  to 
sit  in  this  Capitol,  in  itself  typical  of  the  new  era  then  dawning  upon 
the  State ;i'^  and,  what  is  more  important  still,  he  was  the  first  of  our 
Governors  to  discard  the  old  laissez  faire  policy  which  his  predecessors 
had  followed  since  the  Revolution,  and  to  come  into  office  with  a  distinct 
program  in  view.  This  program  he  outlined  in  very  general  terms  in 
his  Inaugural  Address  before  the  Members  of  the  General  Assembly, 
in  the  course  of  which  he  said: 

I  shall  be  happy  to  cooperate  with  you  in  bringing  into  active  operation  all 
the  elements  of  greatness  and  usefulness  with  which  our  State  is  so  abund- 
antly blessed.  Other  States  have  outstripped  us  in  the  career  of  improve- 
ments, and  in  the  development  of  their  natural  resources,  but  North  Carolina 
will  stand  a  favorable  comparison  with  most  of  her  sister  States  in  her 
natural  advantages, — her  great  extent  of  fertile  soil,  her  great  variety  of  pro- 
duction, her  exhaustless  deposits  of  mineral  wealth,  her  extraordinary  water- 
power,  inviting  to  manufactures,  all,  all  combine  to  give  her  advantages  that 
few  other  States  possess.  Whatever  measures  you  may  adopt  to  encourage 
agriculture  and  to  induce  the  husbandman  while  he  toils  and  sweats  to  hope 
that  his  labors  will  be  duly  rewarded;  whatever  measures  you  may  adopt  to 
facilitate  commerce  and  to  aid  industry  in  all  departments  of  life  to  reap  its 
full  rewards,  will  meet  with  my  cordial  approbation.  *  *  *  It  is  equally 
our  duty,  fellow  citizens,  to  attend  to  our  moral  and  intellectual  cultivation. 
*  *  *  It  is  to  our  common  schools,  in  which  every  child  can  receive  the 
rudiments  of  an  education,  that  our  attention  should  be  mainly  directed. 
Our  system  is  yet  in  its  infancy;  it  will  require  time  and  experience  to  give 
to  it  its  greatest  perfection.  *  *  *  i  doubt  not,  in  due  time,  the  legisla- 
tive v/isdom  of  the  State  will  perfect  the  system  as  far  as  human  sagacity 
can  do  it.  And  no  part  of  my  official  duty  will  be  performed  with  more 
pleasure  than  that  part  which  may  aid  in  bringing  about  that  happy  result. is 


I'Morebead's  opponent  in  1840  was  Romulus  M.  Saunders.  The  vote  was,  Morehead  44,434;  Saun- 
ders, 35,903;  Morehead's  majority,  8,581.  In  1842  Morehead's  opponent  was  Louis  D.  Henry.  The 
vote  was,  Morehead,  37,943;  Henry,  34,411;  Morehead's  majority,  3,532.  The  falling  off  in  Morehead's 
vote  is  attributable  to  the  disorganization  of  the  Whig  party  following  the  death  of  President  Harri- 
son, and  the  defection  of  President  Tyler.  Morehead's  first  inauguration  was  January  1,  1S41;  his 
second,  December  31,  1842. 

"Referring  to  this  fact  in  his  Inaugural  Address  before  the  General  Assembly  he  said: 
"You  are  the  first  legislative  body  that  ever  had  the  honor  to  assemble  in  its  splendid  halls.  I 
am  the  first  Executive  who  ever  had  the  honor  to  be  installed  within  its  durable  walls.  It  will  endure 
as  a  monument  for  ages  to  come  of  the  munificence,  the  liberality  and  taste  of  the  age  in  which  we  live. 
There  is  a  moral  effect  produced  by  the  erection  of  such  an  edifice  as  this,— it  will  serve  in  the  chain 
of  time  to  link  the  past  with  the  future.  And  if  ever  that  proud  spirit  that  has  ever  characterized  us, 
which  has  ever  been  ready  to  assert  its  rights  and  to  avenge  its  -wTongs,  which  exhibited  itself  at  the 
Regulation  Battle  of  1770  [1771],  which  burnt  with  more  briUiance  at  the  Mecklenburg  Declaration  of 
Independence  in  1775,  and  which  boldly  declared  for  independence  in  1776,— if  ever  that  proud  spirit 
shall  become  craven  in  time  to  come,  and  shall  not  dare  animate  the  bosom  of  a  freeman,  let  it  look 
upon  this  monument  and  remember  the  glorious  institution  under  which  its  foundations  were  laid, 
and  the  noble  people  by  whom  it  was  reared,  and  then  let  it  become  a  slave  if  it  can.  May  it  endure 
for  ages  to  come— may  it  endure  until  time  itself  shall  grow  old;  may  a  thousand  years  find  these 
halls  still  occupied  by  freemen  legislating  for  a  free  and  happy  people."— Raleigh  Register,  January 

isRaleigh  Register,  January  5,  1841. 


Bust  of  John  M.  Moeehead  13 

But  we  should  not  expect  a  man  of  Governor  Morehead's  great  prac- 
tical wisdom  to  content  himself  with  general  observations.  To  reduce 
these  general  observations  into  a  concrete,  practical  system  was  the 
work  of  his  first  two  years  in  the  Governor's  office,  and  when  the  Legis- 
lature of  1842  met  he  was  ready  with  a  message  outlining  a  complete 
system  of  internal  improvements.^^  His  scheme  embraced  the  further 
extension  of  the  railroad  lines  already  built  in  the  State,  the  improve- 
ment of  our  rivers  and  harbors,  the  construction  of  extensive  lines  of 
turnpikes,  and  the  linking  of  all  three  together  in  one  general  system 
of  transportation.  One  of  the  ablest  public  documents  in  our  history, 
this  message,  for  its  practical  bearing  on  the  problems  of  our  own  day, 
still  repays  a  careful  study.  With  reference  to  the  great  inland  water- 
way now  nearing  completion,  of  which  the  connection  between  Pamlico 
Sound  and  Beaufort  Harbor  forms  an  important  link,  he  said : 

Turning  our  attention  to  the  eastern  part  of  the  State,  two  improvements 
said  to  be  practicable,  assume  an  importance  that  renders  them  national  in 
their  character.     I  allude  to  the  opening  of  Roanoke  Inlet  and  the  connection 
of  Pamlico  Sound  by  a  ship  canal  with  Beaufort  harbor.    Frequent  surveys 
of  the  first  of  these  proposed  improvements     *     *     *     establish  the  feasi- 
bility of  this  work.     The  advantages  arising  from  this  improvement  to  our 
commerce  are  too  obvious  to  need  pointing  out.     But  the  view  to  be  taken 
of  its  vast  importance  is  in  the  protection  it  will  afford  to  our  shipping  and 
the  lives  of  our  seamen.     The  difficulty  and  dangers  often  encountered  at 
Ocracoke  Inlet  render  the  connection  between  Pamlico  Sound  and  Beaufort 
harbor  of  vast  importance  to  the  convenience  and  security  of  our  commerce 
and  shipping.     It  will  be  an  extension  of  that  inland  navigation,  so  essential 
to  us  in  time  of  war,  and  give  access  to  one  of  the  safest  harbors  on  our 
coast,  and  one  from  which  a  vessel  can  be  quicker  at  sea  than  from  any 
other,  perhaps,  on  the  continent.     In  these  improvements  the  commerce  of 
the  nation  is  interested;   it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  nation  to  make  them, 
if  they  be  practicable  and  proper.     I  therefore  recommend  that  you  bring  the 
attention  of  Congress  to  the  subject  in  the  manner  most  likely  to  effect  the 
object.     *     *     *     We  should  assert  a  continual  claim  to  our  right  to  have 
this  work  effected  by  the  general  government.     *     *     *    You  would  be  saved 
the  trouble  of  this  appeal  if  the  nation  could  witness  one  of  those  storms  so 
frequent  on  our  coast— could  witness  the  war  of  elements  which  rage  around 
Hatteras  and  the  dangers  which  dance  about  Ocracoke— could  witness  the 
noble  daring  of  our  pilots  and  the  ineffectual  but  manly  struggles  of  our 
seamen— could  see  our  coast  fringed  with  wrecks  and  our  towns  filled  with 
the  widows  and  orphans  of  our  gallant  tars.    Justice  and  humanity  would 
extort  what  we  now  ask  in  vain. 


isThis  message  is  published  in  the  Journals  of  the  Legislature,  Session  of  1842-'43,  pp,  405-422;  also 
in  the  Public  Documents  of  the  same  year.    Doc.  No.  1. 


14  Ceremonies  in  Connection  with  Presentation  of 

Of  tlie  conditions  of  transportation  and  travel  in  the  central  section 
of  the  State,  he  said: 

I  would  respectfully  invite  your  attention  to  the  public  highways  generally. 
*  *  *  From  Fayetteville,  the  highest  point  of  good  navigation,  westward 
to  the  Buncombe  Turnpike,  a  distance  of  some  two  hundred  and  fifty  or  three 
hundred  miles,  what  navigable  stream,  railroad,  turnpike,  or  macadamized 
highway  gives  to  the  laborer  facilities  of  transportation?  None!  Literally 
none!  This  vast  extent  of  territory,  reaching  from  the  Blue  Ridge  in  the  west 
to  the  alluvial  region  in  the  east,  and  extending  across  the  whole  State,  it  is 
believed,  will  compare  with  any  spot  upon  the  globe  for  the  fertility  of  its 
soil,  the  variety  of  its  productions,  the  salubrity  of  its  climate,  the  beauty 
of  its  landscapes,  the  richness  of  its  mines,  the  facilities  for  manufactures, 
and  the  intelligence  and  moral  worth  of  its  population.  Can  another  such 
territory,  combining  all  these  advantages,  be  found  upon  the  face  of  the 
whole  earth,  so  wholly  destitute  of  natural  or  artificial  facilities  for  trans- 
portation? 

"What  scheme,  that  is  practicable,"  he  asked,  "will  afford  the  de- 
sired facilities?"  And  in  answer  to  this  query  he  made  two  recom- 
mendations. 

The  remedy  for  these  evils  is  believed  to  be  in  good  turnpikes.  *  *  * 
I  therefore  recommend  that  a  charter  be  granted  to  make  a  turnpike  road 
from  the  city  of  Raleigh  to  some  point  westward  selected  with  a  view  to  its 
ultimate  continuance  to  the  extreme  west.  *  *  *  Should  this  road  be 
continued  to  Waynesboro  [now  Goldsboro],  which  might  be  done  at  com- 
paratively small  expense,  the  farmer  would  have  the  choice  of  markets,  of 
Wilmington  by  the  railroad,  or  New  Bern  by  the  river  Neuse. 

Further  he  recommended : 

That  a  charter  be  granted  to  make  a  turnpike  from  Fayetteville  to  the 
Yadkin  River  at  some  point  above  the  Narrows,  or,  if  deemed  more  expedient, 
to  some  point  on  a  similar  road  leading  from  Raleigh  westward,  thus  giving 
the  west  the  advantages  of  both  markets.  *  *  *  Should  this  road  ever 
reach  the  Yadkin,  no  doubt  is  entertained  of  its  continuance  across  the 
Catawba  westward — thus  giving  to  this  road  the  advantages  which  will  arise 
from  the  navigation  of  these  two  noble  rivers. 

,  JSTearly  seventy  years  were  to  pass  before  the  State  was  ready  for  the 
execution  of  these  plans,  and  it  was  left  for  the  engineers  of  1912  to 
realize  what  the  statesman  of  1842  had  dreamed.  A  vaster  work  was 
waiting  the  constructive  genius  of  Morehead. 

Turning  his  eyes  farther  westward.  Governor  Morehead  foresaw  the 
future  development  of  the  mountainous  section  of  J^orth  Carolina.  To 
make  this  region  more  interesting,  he  declared,  we  have  only  to  make  it 
more  accessible,*  and  continuing,  he  said : 

The  sublimity  and  beauty  of  its  mountain  scenery,  the  purity  of  its  waters, 
the  buoyancy  and  salubrity  of  its  atmosphere,  the  fertility  of  its  valleys,  the 


Bust  of  John  M.  Morehead  15 

verdure  of  its  mountains,  and,  above  all,  its  energetic,  intelligent  and  hospitable 
inhabitants,  make  it  an  inviting  portion  of  the  State.  *  *  *  When  good 
roads  shall  be  established  in  that  region,  it  is  believed  the  population  will 
increase  with  rapidity,  agriculture  improve,  grazing  will  be  extended,  and 
manufactures  and  the  mechanic  arts  will  flourish  in  a  location  combining 
so  many  advantages  and  inviting  their  growth.  The  improved  highways  will 
be  additional  inducements  to  the  citizens  of  other  sections  of  our  State  to 
abandon  their  usual  northern  tours,  or  visits  to  the  Virginia  watering  places, 
for  a  tour  much  more  interesting  among  our  own  mountains,  much  cheaper, 
and  much  more  beautiful — a  tour  in  which  they  will  inspire  health  in  every 
breath  and  drink  in  health  at  every  draught. 

Governor  Morehead  did  not  expect,  indeed  lie  did  not  desire  that  the 
General  Assembly  should  proceed  to  put  all  o£  his  recommendations 
into  immediate  effect.  He  realized  only  too  well  that  such  a  procedure 
would  require  enormous  outlays  far  beyond  the  resources  of  the  State, 
and  he  never  forgot  that  debts  contracted  today  must  be  paid  tomorrow. 
Sufficient  warning  of  the  effects  of  such  a  course  was  not  lacking. 
Many  of  the  Southern  and  Western  States  embarking  in  wild  and  extrav- 
agant schemes  of  internal  improvements  had  made  such  vast  expendi- 
tures that  their  treasuries  had  become  bankrupt  and  their  people  op- 
pressed with  obligations  which  they  could  not  meet;  and  to  extricate 
themselves  they  had  resorted  to  the  very  simple  but  very  effective  means 
of  repudiation.  If  Governor  Morehead  loved  progress  much,  he  detest- 
ed repudiation  more;  and  the  most  vigorous  passage  in  his  message 
is  that  in  which  he  warns  the  Legislature  against  such  a  course.  Said 
he: 

I  would  recommend  that  whatever  schemes  of  expenditure  you  may  embark 
in,  you  keep  within  the  means  at  the  command  of  the  State;  otherwise  the 
people  must  be  taxed  more  heavily  or  the  State  must  contract  a  loan.  The 
pressure  of  the  times  forbids  the  former— the  tarnished  honor  of  some  of  the 
States  should  make  us,  for  the  present,  decline  the  latter.  The  mania  for 
State  banking  and  the  mad  career  of  internal  improvements,  which  seized  a 
number  of  the  States,  have  involved  them  in  an  indebtedness  very  oppressive, 
but  not  hopeless.  American  credit  and  character  requires  that  this  stain  of 
violated  faith  should  be  obliterated  by  our  honest  acknowledgment  of  the 
debt,  and  a  still  more  honest  effort  to  pay  it.  I  therefore  recommend  the 
passage  of  resolutions  expressive  of  the  strong  interest  which  this  State  feels 
in  the  full  redemption  of  every  pledge  of  public  faith,  and  of  its  utter  detesta- 
tion of  the  abominable  doctrine  of  Repudiation.  That  State  which  honestly 
owes  a  debt  and  has  or  can  command  the  means  of  payment,  and  refuses 
to  pay  because  it  can  not  be  compelled  to  do  so,  has  already  bartered  Public 
Honor,  and  only  waits  an  increase  of  price  to  barter  Public  Liberty.  Thi; 
recommendation  will  come  with  peculiar  force  from  you.  North  Carolina 
has  been  jeered  for  sluggishness  and  indolence,  because  she  has  chosen  to 
guard  her  treasury  and  protect  her  honor  by  avoiding  debt  and  promptly 
meeting  her   engagements.     She  has   yielded   to   others  the  glory   of  their 


16  Ceremonies  in  Connection  with  Presentation  of 

magnificent  expenditures  and  will  yield  to  them  all  that  glory  which  will 
arise  from  a  repudiation  of  their  contracts.  In  the  language  of  one  of  her 
noblest  sons,  "It  is  better  for  her  to  sleep  on  in  indolence  and  innocence  than 
to  wake  up  in  infamy  and  treason." 

^  The  scliemes  outlined  in  Moreliead's  message  of  1842  were  laid  before 
a  Legislature  controlled  by  the  Democratic  party,  and  tbe  policy  of  that 
party  was  hostile  to  internal  improvements.  Morehead  accordingly  was 
forced  to  wait  uj)on  events  for  the  consummation  of  his  great  schemes. 
In  outlining  these  schemes  he  had  given  evidences  of  his  extraordinary- 
power  of  vision;  the  next  few  years  were  to  bring  him  an  opportunity 
to  demonstrate  his  ability  to  transform  his  dreams  into  actual  realities. 
This  opportunity,  for  which  he  had  so  long  waited,  came  with  the  pas- 
sage by  the  Legislature  of  1849  of  the  act  to  charter  "The  North  Caro- 
lina Railroad  Company."^  The  history  of  this  measure — the  long  and 
bitter  contest  between  the  East  and  the  West  over  the  proposed  railroad 
from  Charlotte  to  Danville,  the  statesmanlike  compromise  of  its  advo- 
cates in  accepting  the  road  from  Charlotte  to  Goldsboro,  the  prolonged 
struggle  and  ultimate  victory  in  the  House  of  Commons,  the  dramatic 
scene  in  the  Senate  wherein  Calvin  Graves  immolated  his  own  personal 
ambition  on  the  altar  of  public  duty, — all  this  has  been  described  so  often 
that  it  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  the  story  here.  The  act  authorized 
the  organization  of  a  corporation  with  stock  of  $3,000,000,  of  which  the 
State  was  to  take  $2,000,000  when  private  individuals  had  subscribed 
$1,000,000  and  actually  paid  in  $500,000.  North  Carolina  had  long 
stood  at  the  turn  of  the  road  hesitatingly.  By  the  passage  of  this  act 
she  finally  made  her  decision.  The  enthusiam  of  Governor  Morehead, 
who  was  not  usually  given  to  picturesque  language,  was  too  great  for 
plain  speech.  "The  passage  of  the  act,"  he  declared,  "under  which  this 
company  is  organized  was  the  dawning  of  hope  to  North  Carolina;  the 
securing  its  charter  was  the  rising  sun  of  that  hope;  the  completion  of 
the  road  will  be  the  meridian  glory  of  that  hope,  pregnant  with  the 
results  that  none  living  can  divine."20 

For  the  next  five  years,  during  which  the  private  subscription  of  $1,- 
000,000  was  secured,  the  charter  obtained,  the  company  organized,  the 
route  surveyed,  and  the  road  constructed,  the  dominant  figure  in  its  his- 
tory is  the  figure  of  John  M.  Morehead.  In  this  period  he  performed  his 
greatest  service  to  the  State  and  enrolled  his  name  permanently  among 
the  builders  of  the  Commonwealth.  The  experience  of  North  Carolina 
in  railroad  building  up  to  that  time  had  not  been  encouraging.  Both 
the  Wilmington   and  Weldon   and  the  Raleigh  and   Gaston   railroads 

^OReport  of  the  Directors  of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad  Company:  Legislative  Documents 
1850-'51.  Executive  Document  No.  9. 


Bust  of  John  M.  Morehead  17 

were  bankrupt  for  tlie  want  of  patronage.  In  tlie  face  of  this  fact,  it 
was  no  slight  achievement  to  raise  a  million  dollars  in  North  Carolina 
for  another  similar  enterprise.  Yet  this  is  the  task  to  which  Governor 
Morehead  now  set  himself.  On  June  15,  1849,  he  presided  over  a  great 
Internal  Improvements  Convention  at  Salisbury  at  which  measures, 
largely  suggested  by  himself,  were  adopted  for  securing  the  stock.^i 
Placed  by  this  convention  at  the  head  of  an  executive  committee  to  carry 
out  these  measures,  he  pushed  them  with  a  vigor,  determination,  and  wis- 
dom that  aroused  the  enthusiasm  of  the  whole  State  and  inspired  confi- 
dence in  the  enterprise.  Speaking  of  his  work  at  a  convention  held  in 
Greensboro,  ^N'ovember  30,  1849,  in  the  interest  of  the  road,  the  Greens- 
boro Patriot  declared  that  "the  determined  spirit  of  this  distinguished 
gentleman  touched  every  heart  in  that  assembly  and  awoke  a  feeling  of 
enthusiasm  and  anxiety,  deep,  startling,  and  fervent  as  we  have  ever 
witncssed."22  On  March  6,  1850,  Morehead  was  able  to  announce  to  a 
convention  at  Hillsboro  that  only  $100,000  remained  to  be  taken  to  com- 
plete the  private  subscription,  and  then  announced  his  willingness  to  be 
one  of  the  ten  men  to  take  the  balance.  ISTine  others  promptly  came 
forward,  subscribed  their  proportionate  part,  and  thus  ensured  the 
building  of  the  road.23  "It  is  worthy  of  remark,"  declared  Major 
Walter  Gwyn,  the  eminent  engineer  whose  skill  ccntribut-ed  so  much  to 
the  construction  of  the  road,  "that  the  whole  amount  was  subscribed  by 
individuals,  without   the  aid  of  corporations,  the  largest  subscription 


2iThis  convention  was  attended  by  two  hundred  and  twenty-five  delegates  from  twenty-one  coun- 
ties and  Norfolk,  Virginia.  Among  those  present  were,  ex-Gov.  D.  L.  Swain,  ex-Gov.  W.  A.  Graham, 
ex-Gov.  John  M.  Morehead,  John  W.  Ellis,  afterwards  Governor,  John  A.  Gilmer,  Rufus  Barringer, 
Victor  Barringer,  James  W.  Osborne,  Calvin  H.  Wiley,  Hamilton  C.  Jones.  IMorehead  was  unani- 
mously elected  president.  The  correspondent  of  the  Raleigh  Register  wrote  that  the  meetings  of  this 
convention  "had  been  looked  to  for  some  time  past  with  the  most  intense  interest,  by  the  friends  of 
the  Central  Railroad,  as  determining,  to  a  considerable  extent,  the  probable  success  or  failure  of  that 
enterprise."  He  declared  that  "the  Convention  in  every  respect— the  numbers,  intelligence  and  re- 
spectability of  its  m.embers,  its  zeal  and  its  harmony  of  action— was  all  that  even  the  most  sanguine 
would  have  desired  *  *  *  The  address  of  the  President  was,  in  all  respects,  worthy  the 
importance  of  the  occasion  and  the  high  reputation  of  the  man."  A  Committee  of  Thirteen  was  ap- 
pointed "to  consider  of  and  report  upon  the  measures  to  be  acted  on  by  the  Convention."  This  com- 
mittee recommended  a  plan,  which  the  Convention  adopted,  for  securing  stock  subscriptions  and  the 
appointment  of  an  Executive  Committee  of  three  to  carry  it  into  effect.  Morehead  was  made  Chair- 
man of  this  Executive  Committee.  The  other  members  were  George  W.  Mordecai  and  Dr.  W.  R.  Holt— 
The  Raleigh  Register,  June  23,  1849.  Similar  Conventions  were  held  at  Greensboro,  November  29, 
1849;  Raleigh,  December  15,  1849;  Goldsboro,  in  January,  1850;  and  Hillsboro,  March,  1850.  At  the 
Greensboro  Convention  Governor  Morehead  "passed  a  high  eulogism  upon  Calvin  Graves,  of  Caswell, 
who  had  given  the  casting  vote  by  which  this  charter  of  the  N.  C.  Railroad  Company  had  been 
passed,"  and  then  nominated  him  for  president.  Morehead  was  appointed  chairman  of  the  commit- 
tee on  subscriptions.  He  reported  subscriptions  of  S190,800.  John  A.  Gilmer  suggested  that  one  hun- 
dred men  come  forward  to  take  the  balance  in  equal  parts.  Morehead  headed  the  list,  but  the  requisite 
number  was  not  secured.  After  several  addresses  had  been  delivered,  Morehead  rose  and  said  that 
as  the  speaking  seemed  to  be  over,  he  reckoned  we  had  as  well  get  to  work  now,  and  take  the  remainder 
of  the  stock."  As  only  fifty-one  men  had  taken  up  Mr.  Gilmer's  suggestion,  Morehead  agreed  to  double 
his  subscription,  if  the  others  would.  The  proposition,  however,  was  not  accepted.— Raleigh  Star, 
December  5,  1849.  On  December  15,  Morehead  addressed  the  Convention  at  Raleigh  at  which  about 
$40,000  of  stock  was  subscribed.  He  was  also  at  the  Goldsboro  Convention.  At  the  Hillsboro  Con- 
vention the  sulDScription  was  completed,  and  a  meeting  of  the  stockholders  called  to  be  held  at  Sahs- 
bury.  to  organize  the  company. 

22Quoted  in  the  Raleigh  S<ar.  December  5,  1849.  ^      ,^  ,  jx 

23The  others  were  George  W.  Mordecai,  of  Wake;  John  W.  Thomas,  of  Davidson;  Dr.  (Edmund) 
Strudwick,  of  Orange;  Paul  Cameron,  of  Orange;  William  Boylan,  of  Wake;  Alonzo  T.  Jerkins,  of  Cra- 
ven; Dr.  A.  J.  DeRosset,  of  New  Hanover;  Giles  Mebane,  of  Alamance;  and  a  group  of  ten  individuals 
in  Orange  who  subscribed  the  last  ten  thousand.— Raleigh  Star,  March  20,  1850. 


18  Ceremonies  in  Connection  with  Presentation  of 

thus  made  to  any  public  improvement  in  the  Southern  country."  The 
editor  of  the  Ealeigh  Star,^^  announced  the  completion  of  the  private 
subscription  with  the  following  comments: 

We  must  be  permitted  to  remark  that  the  State  owes  much  to  that  sterling 
man,  Governor  Morehead,  for  success  in  this  enterprise;  and  that  he  who  has 
heretofore  been  styled  a  "wheel  horse"  in  this  matter,  may  be  justly  entitled 
to  the  appellation  of  a  "whole  team."  Whilst  we  pen  these  hasty  lines,  the 
deep-mouthed  cannon  is  pealing  forth  from  Union  Square  commemorative 
of  this  great  deed  for  North  Carolina.  We  are  not  of  a  very  excitable  dispo- 
sition, but  we  must  confess  that  it  makes  our  blood  run  quicker  at  every  peal, 
so  that  we  can  scarcely  restrain  ourselves  from  responding  to  its  notes, 
"Huzza!   Huzza!   for  the  railroad." 

On  July  11,  1850,  the  private  stockholders  met  at  Salisbury  and  organ- 
ized the  company.25  The  board  of  directors  unanimously  elected  John 
M.  Morehead  president.  He  was  continuously  reelected  president  until 
1855,  when  declining  further  election  he  was  sMCceeded  by  Charles  F. 
Fisher.  During  these  five  years  of  President  Morehead's  administra- 
tion the  ^orth  Carolina  Railroad,  truly  described  as  "the  greatest  of  all 
enterprises  so  far  attempted  by  the  State  of  l^orth  Carolina  in  the  nature 
of  a  public  or  internal  improvement,"  was  constructed  and  opened 
to  traffic.  The  surveys  were  commenced  August  21,  1850;  on  July 
11,  1851,  at  Greensboro,  in  the  presence  of  an  immense  throng,  ground 
for  the  laying  of  the  rails  was  broken  ;26  on  January  29,  1856,  the  road 
was  ready  for  cars  from  Goldsboro  to  Charlotte,  a  distance  of  two  hun- 
dred and  twenty-three  miles.  In  his  last  report  to  the  board  of  direc- 
tors. Engineer  Gwyn  said  that  the  breaking  of  ground  for  this  railroad 
"may  be  justly  regarded  as  an  event  which  will  ever  be  memorable  in 
the  annals  of  J^ortli  Carolina — an  era  which  marks  her  engaging  with 

24March  6,  1S50. 

2sThe  following  Directors  were  elected:  William  C.  Means,  John  B.  Lord,  John  I.  Shaver,  Francis 
Fries,  John  W.  Thomas,  John  M.  Morehead,  John  A.  Gilmer,  William  A.  Graham,  Benjamin  Trol- 
linger,  Romulus  M.  Saunders,  Armand  J.  DeRosset,  Alonzo  T.  Jerkins.  The  Directors  elected  the 
following  officers:  President,  John  M.  Morehead;  Secretary-Treasurer,  John  U.  Kirkland;  Engineer, 
Major  Walter  Gwyn. 

26This  ceremony  followed  the  regular  annual  meeting  of  the  stockholders.  The  correspondent  of 
the  Raleigh  Register  gives  the  following  account  of  it: 

"A  crowd  of  people  appeared,  ready  for  the  celebration,  such  as  we  may  safely  say  was  never  seen 
in  our  town  before  for  numbers.  It  was  one  universal  jam  all  out  of  doors.  The  young  gentlemen 
who  acted  as  marshals  had  hard  enough  work  of  it,  to  persuade  this  vast  and  unwieldy  crowd  into 
marching  shape;  but  they  at  length  succeeded  to  a  degree  which  at  first  appeared  impossible.  The 
procession  was  formed  on  West  Street,  the  clergy  in  front;  then  the  stockholders;  then  the  Orders  of 
Odd  Fellows  and  Free  Masons,  who  turned  out  in  great  numbers  and  in  full  regalia;  closing  with  the 
citizens  generally.  This  immense  line  moved  down  South  Street  to  a  point  on  the  Railroad  survey 
nearly  opposite  the  Caldwell  Institute  building,  where  a  space  of  a  hundred  feet  each  way  was  enclosed 
by  a  line  and  reserved  for  the  ceremony  of  the  day.  The  north  side  of  this  space  was  occupied  by  the 
ladies,  whose  smiles  are  always  ready  for  the  encouragement  of  every  good  word  and  work.  The  other 
three  sides  were  soon  occupied  by  the  male  portion  of  the  assemblage,  from  ten  to  twenty  deep 
around.  You  may  imagine,  then,  the  difficulty  which  the  'rear  rank'  encountered  in  getting  a  glimpse 
of  the  proceedings  within. 

"Having  the  misfortune  to  be  among  the  outsiders,  our  situation  was  of  course  unfavorable  for 
hearing,  and  seeing  was  impossible.  But  we  did  hear  nearly  every  word  of  Governor  Morehead's  clear, 
sonorous  voice,  as  he  introduced  the  Hon.  Calvin  Graves  to  the  vast  assemblage.  He  did  this  in  terms 
eloquent  and  singularly  appropriate  to  the  occasion.  After  alluding  to  the  necessity  so  long  felt  by 
our  people  for  an  outlet  to  the  commercial  world— to  the  inception  of  the  great  scheme,  the  commence- 
ment of  which  we  had  met  today  to  celebrate— to  the  vicissitudes  of  the  charter  before  the  two  houses 


Bust  of  John  M.  Mokehead  19 

earnestness  in  honorable  competition  with  her  sister  states  in  the  great 
work  of  internal  improvement  which  is  to  raise  the  State  to  that  rank 
which  the  advantages  of  her  situation  entitle  her  to  hold,"  and  continu- 
ing, he  said : 

From  this  memorable  day,  July  11,  1851,  there  has  been  no  faltering  or 
despondency;  all  have  been  united  heart  and  hand  in  the  great  undertaking; 
the  whole  State,  her  entire  people,  catching  the  enthusiasm  which  it  engen- 
dered, have  come  forth  in  their  might  and  majesty,  battling  in  the  cause  of 
internal  improvement,  those  heretofore  signalized  as  laggards  now  pressing 
forward  in  the  front  rank.  *  *  *  tj^^  contractors  on  the  North  Carolina 
Railroad  were  all  stockholders,  and  with  only  two  or  three  exceptions  en- 
tirely destitute  of  experience  in  the  work  they  undertook;  they  commenced 
their  contracts  very  generally  in  January,  1852,  and  on  the  first  of  January, 
1853,  without  the  aid  of  a  single  dollar  from  the  treasury  of  the  company, 
but  relying  entirely  upon  their  own  credit  and  means,  their  united  labor 
amounted  to  $500,000,  which,  carried  to  the  credit  of  their  stock  subscription, 
fulfilled  the  second  condition  of  the  subscription  on  the  part  of  the  State  and 
brought  her  in  as  a  partner  in  the  great  enterprise.  This  (coupling  the  sub- 
scription of  a  million  of  dollars  by  individuals,  chiefly  farmers,  and  working 
out  a  half  a  million  on  their  own  resources)  is  an  achievement  unprecedented 
in  the  annals  of  the  public  works  of  this  or  any  other  country,  and  wherever 
known  (and  it  ought  to  be  published  everywhere)  will  disabuse  the  public 
mind  and  vindicate  the  energy,  enterprise  and  industry  of  the  citizens  of  the 
State.  I  have  repeatedly  said  publicly,  and  perceiving  no  impropriety  in 
it,  I  avail  myself  of  this  occasion  to  say  that  in  my  experience,  now  exceed- 
ing thirty  years,  I  have  not  found  on  any  public  work  with  which  I  have  been 
connected  a  set  of  contractors  more  reliable  than  those  with  whom  I  have 
had  to  deal  on  the  North  Carolina  Railroad,  and  none  with  whom  my  inter- 
course has  been  so  pleasant  and  agreeable. 

It  is  no  small  tribute  to  the  wisdom  and  constructive  genius  of  Presi- 
dent Morehead  to  be  able  to  say  that,  of  all  the  contracts  which,  as  presi- 
dent of  the  road,  he  had  to  make,  the  only  one  about  which  any  contro- 
versy ever  arose,  or  any  charge  of  favoritism  was  ever  made,  was  one 

of  the  General  Assembly,  and  the  fact  that  it  at  last  hung  upon  the  decision  of  the  Speaker  of  the 
Senate,  and  that  its  fate  was  decided  in  the  affirmative  by  the  unfaltering  'Aye'  of  that  Speaker, 
Calvin  Graves,—  he  said  that  no  other  citizen  of  North  Carolina  could  so  appropriately  perform  the 
ceremony  of  removing  the  first  earth  in  the  commencement  of  this  work  on  which  the  hopes  of  the  State 
so  vitally  depend,  as  to  the  man  who  pronounced  the  decisive  'Aye.' 

"It  was  impossible  for  us  to  catch  the  full  connection  of  Mr.  Graves'  speech.  Some  sentences  we 
heard,  glowing  with  that  patriotic  feeling  which  has  so  long  distinguished  him  as  one  of  the  first  and 
best  sons  of  old  North  Carolina.  We  could  only  judge  generally  of  its  effect  by  the  waving  of  para- 
sols and  handkerchiefs  among  the  ladies,  and  the  frequent  and  hearty  applause  that  arose  from  the 
inner  ranks  of  the  citizens.        *        *        *        * 

"At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Graves'  speech  he  'broke'  ground  on  the  Railroad  by  digging  up  and 
depositing  in  a  box  prepared  for  that  purpose  a  few  spadesful  of  earth. 

"Governor  Morehead  remarked  that  this  was  deposited  in  the  box,  to  remain  a  hundred  years, 
and  then  be  reopened  for  our  inspection!  The  crowd  laughed  at  the  ludicrousness  of  the  idea  and  so  did 
we.  But  it  naturally  awoke  a  graver  thought.  Before  a  tenth  of  a  century  shall  pass,  we  dare  say 
that  numbers  of  those  present  will  see  the  railroad  cars  swiftly  traversing  the  spot  where  this  interest- 
ing ceremony  occurred.        *        •        *        * 

"The  annual  meeting  of  stockholders  closed  on  Friday  morning.  Nothing  of  importance  was  done 
during  the  afternoon  sitting.  «  *  *  -pjjg  apprehension  felt  by  a  few  that  something  fatal  to 
the  road  would  happen  at  this  meeting  was  very  agreeably  dissipated.  Conciliation  and  harmony, 
and  a  disposition  to  prosecute  the  enterprise  with  all  power  to  a  successful  termination  marked  the 
proceedings."— The  Raleigh  Register,  July  16,  1851. 


20  Cekemonies  iist  Connection  with  Presentation  of 

which  the  State  Directors,  for  partisan  political  purposes,  took  out  of 
his  hands  and  referred  for  settlement  to  a  committee  of  their  own 
choosing.  2  7 

The  N'orth  Carolina  Eailroad  was  only  one  link  in  the  great  State 
system  which  Morehead  contemplated.  As  he  himself  expressed  it  this 
system  was  to  include  "one  great  leading  trunk  line  of  railway  from 
the  magnificent  harbor  of  Beaufort  to  the  Tennessee  line."  Writing  in 
1866,  he  attributed  the  conception  of  this  scheme  to  Joseph  Caldwell  and 
Judge  Gaston,  adding: 

Charter  after  charter,  by  the  influence  of  these  great  men,  was  granted  to 
effect  the  work,  but  the  gigantic  work  was  thought  to  be  too  much  for  the 
limited  means  the  State  and  her  citizens  could  then  command,  and  the 
charters  remain  monuments  of  their  wisdom  and  our  folly,  or  inability  to 
carry  them  out.  A  more  successful  plan  it  is  hoped  was  finally  adopted — 
to  do  this  great  work  by  sections.  The  North  Carolina  Railroad  *  *  * 
was  the  first  [section]  undertaken. 2s 

The  other  sections  were  to  be  built  between  Goldsboro  and  Beaufort 

27This  controversy  was  an  incident  in  one  of  the  most  memorable  events  in  Governor  Morehead's 
career.  Before  the  passage  of  the  act  to  charter  the  North  Carolina  Railroad  Company,  the  people 
of  the  Central  section  of  the  State  had  asked  the  Legislature  to  charter  a  company  to  build  a  railroad 
from  Charlotte  to  Danville,  Va.  The  people  of  the  East  opposed  this  charter,  and  in  1849  its  advo- 
cates accepted  in  its  place  the  railroad  from  Charlotte  to  Goldsboro.  Nearly  ten  j^ears  passed,  there- 
fore, before  anything  more  was  heard  of  the  Danville  Connection.  In  1858  the  advocates  of  the  Dan- 
ville Connection  again  brought  forward  their  scheme,  and  asked  for  a  charter  for  a  company  to  build 
a  road,  without  any  aid  from  the  State,  to  connect  the  North  Carolina  Railroad  at  Greensboro  with 
the  Richmond  and  Danville  at  Danville.  The  bill  was  introduced  in  the  House  of  Commons  in  1858 
by  Francis  L.  Simpson,  of  Rockingham,  but  everybody  understood  that  it  was  in  reality  Governor 
Morehead's  bill  and  he  was  its  principal  champion.  The  members  from  the  East,  supported  by  the 
Raleigh  Register  and  the  Raleigh  Standard,  immediately  assailed  the  project  as  inimical  to  the  interests 
of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad.  The  debate  continued  several  days.  It  was  participated  in  by  some 
of  the  able.st  debaters  in  the  State,  and  was  extended  to  embrace  the  whole  subject  and  history  of  the 
State's  policy  toward  railroads.  Governor  Morehead's  administration  of  the  affairs  of  the  North  Caro- 
lina Railroad  was  bitterly  assailed.  He  was  charged  with  mismanagement  and  with  a  breach  of  faith 
and  betrayal  of  the  interests  of  the  State,  his  opponents  claiming  that,  while  soliciting  subscriptions 
to  stock  in  the  North  Carolina  Railroad  Company,  he  had  expressly  promised  to  abandon  forever 
all  advocacy  of  the  Danville  Connection.  No  more  formidable  attack,  perhaps,  has  ever  been  made 
on  any  public  man  in  the  history  of  North  Carolina.  Arrayed  against  Morehead,  besides  the  two 
newspapers  mentioned,  were  Robert  R.  Bridgers,  of  Edgecombe;  W.  T.  Dortch,  of  Wayne;  Pride  Jones 
and  John  W.  Norwood,  of  Orange,  and  Dennis  D.  Ferebee,  of  Camden,  and  others  scarcely  less  distin- 
guished for  ability.  Morehead's  defence  is  still  remembered  as  one  of  the  really  great  fc^rensic  triumphs 
in  our  history.  Mr.  J.  S.  F.  Baird,  who  represented  Buncombe  County  in  thfit  Legislature,  and  who 
was  not  of  Governor  Morehead's  political  faith,  under  date  of  April  29,  1912,  writes  of  the  contest: 

"After  the  lapse  of  fifty-four  years  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  recall  many  of  the  incidents  of  the  de- 
bate but  this  much  I  do  remember,  that  Colonel  Bridgers'  attack  on  Governor  Morehead  was  futile 
and  did  the  Governor  no  harm,  for  he  vindicated  himself  in  the  most  thorough  manner." 

Two  other  members  who  them.selves  participated  in  the  debate  have  left  their  testimony.  John 
Kerr,  of  Rockingham  Coimty,  said  of  Morehead's  defence: 

"Never  was  a  more  brilliant  -vactory  won  than  he  achieved  that  day.  His  assailants  were  driven 
from  all  their  positions,  were  pursued  and  routed,  'horse,  foot  and  dragoons'  *  *  *  They 
were  strong  men,  and  the  House  felt  the  shock  of  battle  while  the  conflict  lasted.  But  when  he  closed 
his  defence  his  assailants  bore  the  air  of  deep  dejection  and  discomfiture.  The  House  was  enraptured 
with  the  display  of  power  on  the  part  of  Governor  Morehead,  and  no  further  charges  were  heard  against 
him."  Hon.  Thomas  Settle  said:  "For  a  time  the  attack  seemed  overwhelming,  and  Governor  More- 
head's  friends  feared  that  he  would  not  be  able  to  repel  it.  For  five  days  he  sat  and  received  it  in 
silence,  but  when  he  arose  and  as  he  proceeded  with  his  defence,  friend,  foe,  and  everybody  else  was 
struck  with  amazement.  We  could  scarcely  realize  that  any  man  possessed  such  powers  of  argument 
and  eloquence.  His  \'indication  was  so  complete  that  his  assailants  openly  acknowledged  it."  Mr. 
C.  S.  Wooten,  who  did  not  hear  the  debate  but  remembers  the  impression  it  created  in  the  State  at  the 
time,  says  of  Morehead's  effort:  "I  know  of  but  one  other  instance  in  American  history  that  can 
parallel  Morehead's  fight  and  that  was  when  Benton,  solitary  and  alone,  made  his  fight  against  Cal- 
houn, Clay  and  Webster  in  favor  of  his  resolution  expunging  from  the  records  of  the  Senate  the  resolu- 
tion censuring  General  Jackson.  There  never  has  been  such  another  instance  in  the  history  of  the 
State  of  such  moral  courage,  such  heroic  firmness,  and  such  a  grand  exhibition  of  iron  nerve."  In  the 
heat  of  the  contest  the  Danville  Connection  was  almost  forgotten  in  the  attack  on  Morehead.  The 
former  was  defeated  by  a  strictly  sectional  vote;  but  Morehead  achieved,  according  to  all  testimony, 
both  contemporary  and  subsequent,  a  great  personal  triumph.  The  newspaper  reports  of  the  debate 
are  too  meager  to  give  one  anything  like  an  adequate  idea  of  the  speeches  on  either  side. 

*8Letter  to  the  Stockholders  of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad  Co.  Proceedings  of  the  Seventeenth 
Annual  Meeting,  July  17,  1866. 


Bust  of  John  M.  Morehead  21 

and  between  Salisbury  and  tbe  Tennessee  boundary.  In  accordance 
with  this  plan  the  Legislature,  in  1853,  incorporated  "The  Atlantic  and 
IS'orth  Carolina  Kailroad  Company,"  and  "The  ISTorth  Carolina  and 
Western  Railroad  Company,"  to  which  Governor  Morehead  referred  as 
^^the  contemplated  extensions  of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad."  Imme- 
diately after  the  passage  of  these  acts,  Governor  Reid  ordered  President 
Morehead  and  the  Directors  of  the  N'orth  Carolina  Railroad  to  make 
the  necessary  surveys.  In  an  open  letter  to  the  Greensboro  Patriot, 
Governor  Morehead  said  of  this  order : 

I  desire  to  give  this  pleasing  intelligence  to  the  friends  of  these  enter- 
prises, through  your  valuable  paper,  with  an  assurance  that  the  work  will 
be  commenced  at  as  early  a  day  as  practicable.  *  *  *  Not  a  moment  is 
to  be  lost.  The  deep,  deep  regret  is  that  these  extensions  are  not  now  in  full 
progress  of  construction.  The  giant  strides  of  improvement  around  us  should 
arouse  us  to  action.  The  ignominious  and  pusillanimous  complaint  that 
Nature  has  done  so  little  for  us  is  a  libel  upon  the  old  dame.  Let  us  see  if 
it  is  not.  *  *  *  We  have  at  the  eastern  terminus  of  one  of  these  exten- 
sions one  of  the  finest  harbors,  at  Beaufort,  for  all  commercial  purposes,  on 
the  whole  Atlantic  coast.  And  if  the  improvements  at  the  mouth  of  Cape 
Fear  shall  succeed,  as  it  is  hoped  they  will,  we  shall  have  another  port  sur- 
passed by  few,  if  any,  in  the  South.  *  *  *  But  it  may  be  asked,  what 
commerce  have  we  to  require  such  a  port  as  Beaufort?  Let  the  answer  be,  the 
commerce  of  the  world.  Look  at  the  location  of  this  port — placed  at  the  end 
of  the  North  Carolina  coast,  which  projects  like  a  promontory  into  the  At- 
lantic, midway  and  within  sight  of  the  great  line  of  navigation  between  the 
North  and  the  South,  and  within  thirty  minutes'  sail  of  the  ocean.  Nature 
made  it  for  a  stopping  place  of  commerce — the  halfway  house  between  the 
North  and  the  South,  where  steamers  may  get  their  supplies  of  anthracite, 
semi-bituminous  and  bituminous  coal.  *  *  *  3^^  let  us  take  a  western 
view  of  these  extensions.  The  road  running  from  Beaufort  along  the  Central 
Railroad  [the  North  Carolina  Railroad]  and  to  the  Tennessee  line  and  thence 
along  the  lines  already  in  progress  of  construction  to  Memphis  will  not  vary 
one  degree  from  a  due  west  course.  Extend  the  same  line  westward  (and  I 
predict  it  will  surely  be  done)  to  the  city  of  San  Francisco,  which  is  to  be- 
come the  great  emporium  of  the  East  India  trade,  and  who  can  doubt  that  the 
trade  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  as  well  as  that  of  the  East  Indies  and  China, 
will  crowd  our  port.29 

Under  Morehead's  supervision,  the  work  of  both  the  Atlantic  and 
N'orth  Carolina  Railroad,  and  the  Western  !N'orth  Carolina  Railroad 
was  inaugurated.30     On  June  17,  1858,  the  former  was  completed  and 

MRaleigh  Register,  June  25,  1843. 

soMorehead  was  the  pioneer  in  developing  our  system  of  internal  improvements  and  was  the  lead- 
ing spirit  in  the  building  of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad.  He  was  President  for  four  years  of  the  Cen- 
tral Road  and  was  the  Chief  Contractor  in  building  the  road  from  Morehead  City  to  New  Bern  *  ♦  • 
Badger  was  an  abler  lawyer,  Bragg  a  more  astute  reasoner,  Graham  more  polished  and  graceful,  but 
Morehead,  as  a  man  of  affairs,  for  broad  scope  and  grasp  of  intellect,  for  vigor  of  thought,  for  practical 
common  sense,  for  managing  vast  financial  enterprises,  was  greater  than  either.  He  could  stuff  bis 
pants  in  his  boot  legs,  splash  through  the  mud  and  build  railroads  while  the  others  would  rather 
recline  in  easy  chairs  in  some  cosy  office  and  attend  to  their  law  practice,  discuss  literature,  or  talk  on 
social  topics.  While  building  the  road  from  New  Bern  to  Morehead,  I  have  seen  him  dressed  as  I  have 
described,  and  his  boots  besmeared  with  the  red  mud  of  Guilford  County."— C.  S.  Wooten. 


22  Ceremonies  iisr  CoNNECTioisr  with  Presentation  of 

ready  for  trains  from  Goldsboro  to  Beaufort  Harbor ;  and  a  few  months 
thereafter  found  trains  running  over  the  latter  to  within  four  miles  of 
Morganton,  while  the  entire  route  to  the  Tennessee  line  had  been  sur- 
veyed and  partly  graded.  In  1866  a  bill  drawn  in  accordance  with  the 
original  plan,  was  introduced  in  the  Senate  to  consolidate  these  two 
roads  and  the  ISTorth  Carolina  Railroad  under  the  name  of  "The  ISTorth 
Carolina  Railroad  Company."  Morehead,  now  approaching  the  end 
of  his  long  and  useful  career,  strongly  endorsed  and  supported  this 
measure.  One  of  his  last  public  utterances  was  an  appeal  to  the  stock- 
holders of  the  JSTorth  Carolina  Railroad  Company  to  throw  their  power- 
ful influence  in  favor  of  the  consummation  of  the  great  plans  for  which 
he  had  given  the  best  service  of  his  life.  After  giving  a  brief  resume 
of  the  railroad  work  done  in  the  State  he  said : 

Here  let  us  pause  and  take  a  survey  of  what  has  been  done  in  seven  years 
towards  this  great  work.  From  Beaufort  harbor  to  Goldsboro  the  Atlantic 
and  North  Carolina  Railroad  Company  have  built  ninety-six  miles.  From 
Goldsboro  to  Charlotte  you  (the  North  Carolina  Railroad)  have  built  two 
hundred  and  twenty-three  miles.  From  Salisbury  to  within  four  miles  of 
Morganton  the  Western  North  Carolina  Railroad  have  built  seventy-six  miles 

*  *  *  making  in  all  three  hundred  and  ninety-five  miles,  from  which  de- 
duct forty-three  miles  from  Salisbury  to  Charlotte,  and  we  have  actually 
built  of  this  great  line  three  hundred  and  fifty-two  miles  in  one  continuous 
line.  Think  of  it!  Seven  years!  In  the  lifetime  of  a  State  or  nation  seven 
years  is  but  as  a  moment  in  its  existence.  It  would  not  cover  the  dawning 
of  its  existence.  In  the  great  day  of  a  nation's  improvements  seven  years 
would  not  be  the  sunrise  of  that  day.  We  have  done  this  great  work  in  the 
twilight  of  our  great  day  of  internal  improvement — a  day  which  dawned  so 
beautifully  upon  us,  but  which  became  enveloped  in  that  gloom  which  shrouds 
the  nation  in  mourning.  But  let  us  not  despair.  The  day  which  dawned  so 
beautifully  upon  us  will  yet  reach  its  meridian  splendor.  Then  let  us  be  up 
and  doing  *  *  *  ^nd  then  the  hopes,  the  dreams  of  the  great  and  good 
Caldwell  and  Gaston  will  be  realized.  *  *  *  You  have  the  honor  of  being 
the  pioneers  in  this  great  work  executed  in  sections.  Do  yourselves  now  the 
honor  to  consolidate  the  whole  and  complete  the  original  design.  You,  the 
most  powerful  and  most  independent  of  the  three  corporations,  can,  with 
much  grace,  propose  to  your  sister  corporations  consolidations  upon  terms  of 
justice  and  equity  manifesting  selfishness  in  naught  but  your  name.  Yield 
not  that.  The  new  consolidated  corporation  should  be  still  "The  North 
Carolina  Railroad  Company."  This  will  be  a  corporation  worthy  of  you,  of 
your  State,  and  of  the  great  destinies  that  await  it.3i 

#  What  this  great  destiny  was  no  man  had  foreseen  so  clearly  as  he. 
The  traveler  of  1912  along  the  line  of  the  I^orth  Carolina  Railroad 
sees  the  fulfilment  of  Morehead's  dreams  of  1850.  He  finds  himself  in 
one  of  the  most  productive  regions  of  the  new  world.  He  traverses  it 
from  one  end  to  the  other  at  a  speed  of  forty  miles  an  hour,  surrounded 

"Letter  of  July  17,  1866,  to  the  Stockholders  of  the  North  Carolina  Railroad  Company. 


Bust  of  John  M.  Morehead  23 

by  every  comfort  and  convenience  of  modern  travel.  He  passes  through 
a  region  bound  together  by  a  thousand  miles  of  steel  rails,  by  telegraph 
and  telephone  lines,  and  by  nearly  two  thousand  miles  of  improved  coun- 
try roads.  He  finds  a  population  engaged  not  only  in  agriculture,  but 
in  manufacturing,  in  commerce,  in  transportation,  and  in  a  hundred 
other  enterprises.:-  Instead  of  a  few  old  fashioned  handlooms  turning 
out  annually  less  than  $400,000  worth  of  "homemade"  articles,  he 
hears  the  hum  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  modern  factories,  operating 
two  millions  of  spindles  and  looms  by  steam,  water,  electricity,  employ- 
ing more  than  fifty  millions  of  capital,  and  sending  their  products  to 
the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth.  His  train  passes  through  farm  lands 
that,  since  Morehead  began  his  work,  have  increased  six  times  in  value, 
that  produce  annually  ten  times  as  much  cotton  and  seventy-five  times 
as  much  tobacco.  From  his  car  window  instead  of  the  four  hundred 
and  sixty-six  log  huts  that  passed  for  schoolhouses  in  1850,  with  their 
handful  of  pupils,  he  beholds  a  thousand  modern  schoolhouses,  alive 
with  the  energy  and  activity  of  one  hundred  thousand  school  children. 
His  train  carries  him  from  Goldsboro  through  Kaleigh,  Durham,  Bur- 
lington, Greensboro,  High  Point,  Lexington,  Salisbury,  Concord,  Char- 
lotte,— ^villages  that  have  grown  into  cities,  old  fields  and  cross  roads 
that  have  become  thriving  centers  of  industry  and  culture.  Better  than 
all  else,  he  finds  himself  among  a  people,  no  longer  characterized  by 
their  lethargy,  isolation  and  ignorance,  but  bristling  with  energy,  alert 
to  every  opportunity,  fired  with  the  spirit  of  the  modern  world,  and 
with  their  faces  steadfastly  set  toward  the  future. 

*  The  foundation  on  which  all  this  prosperity  and  progress  rests  is  the 
work  done  by  John  M.  Morehead  or  inspired  by  him.  'No  well  informed 
man  can  be  found  today  in  N'orth  Carolina  who  will  dispute  his  primacy 
among  the  railroad  builders  of  the  State.  The  j^orth  Carolina  Rail- 
road, the  Atlantic  and  IN'orth  Carolina  Railroad,  the  Western  IvTorth 
Carolina  Railroad,  the  connecting  link  between  the  l^orth  Carolina  and 
the  Richmond  and  Danville  railroads  from  Greensboro  to  Danville,  all 
bear  witness  of  his  supremacy  in  this  field.  In  one  of  the  finest  passages 
of  his  message  to  the  General  Assembly  in  1842  he  urged  the  building  of 
good  country  roads ;  today  there  are  five  thousand  miles  of  improved  rural 
highways  in  N'orth  Carolina.  He  recommended  the  building  of  a  Central 
Highway  from  Morehead  City  through  Raleigh  to  the  Tennessee  line; 
today  we  have  just  witnessed  the  completion  of  a  great  State  Highway 
piercing  the  very  heart  of  the  State  almost  along  the  very  route  he  sug- 
gested seventy  years  ago.  *He  suggested  plans  for  extensive  improvements 
of  our  rivers  and  harbors ;  today  a  "thirty  foot  channel  to  the  sea"  has 
become  the  slogan  of  our  chief  port  and  the  National  Government  is 


24  Ceremonies  in  Connection  with  Presentation  of 

spending  annually  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars  in  the  improvement 
of  the  Cape  Fear,  the  J^euse,  the  Pamlico  and  other  rivers  of  Eastern 
JSTorth  Carolina.  He  urged  the  construction  by  the  ISTational  Govern- 
ment of  an  inland  waterway  for  our  coastwise  vessels  through  Pamlico 
Sound  to  Beaufort  harbor;  seventy  years  have  passed  since  then,  this 
enterprise  has  become  national  in  its  scope,  the  Federal  Government  has 
assumed  charge  of  it,  and  the  whole  nation  is  anticipating  the  comple- 
tion in  the  near  future  of  an  inland  waterway  from  Maine  through 
Pamlico  Sound  and  Beaufort  Harbor  to  Florida.  First  of  all  our 
statesmen  Morehead  realized  the  possibility  of  establishing  at  Beaufort 
a  great  world  port;  and  although  this  dream  has  not  yet  been  realized 
there  are  not  lacking  today  men  noted  throughout  the  business  world  for 
their  practical  wisdom,  inspired  by  no  other  purpose  than  commercial 
success,  who  have  not  hesitated  to  stake  large  fortunes  on  the  ultimate 
realization  of  this  dream  also.  A  twentieth  century  statesman  sent 
before  his  time  into  the  world  of  the  nineteenth  century,  Governor 
Morehead,  as  a  distinguished  scholar  has  declared,  "would  have  been 
more  at  home  in  J^orth  Carolina  today  than  would  any  other  of  our 
antebellum  governors.  He  has  been  dead  forty  years,  and  they  have 
been  years  of  constant  change  and  unceasing  development.  But  so 
wide  were  his  sympathies,  so  vital  were  his  aims,  so  far  sighted  were  his 
public  policies,  and  so  clearly  did  he  foresee  the  larger  l^orth  Carolina 
of  schools,  railroads  and  cotton  mills,  that  he  would  be  as  truly  a  con- 
temporary in  the  twentieth  century  as  he  was  a  leader  in  the  nine- 
teenth.32 


32See  sketch  by  C.  Alphonso  Smith  in  the  "Biographical  History  of  North  Carolina,"  Vol.  2,  pp- 
250-59. 


Bust  of  John  M.  Morehead  25 

Address  of  Presentation 


BY  J.  BRYAN  GRIMES,  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  NORTH  CAROLINA 
HISTORICAL   COMMISSION. 


Ladies  and  Gentlemen : 

It  is  the  good  fortune  of  the  North  Carolina  Historical  Commission 
to  be  able  to  offer  to  the  State  a  marble  bust  of  Governor  John  Motley 
Morehead,  a  memorial  gift  from  his  grandsons,  J.  Lindsay  Patterson 
and  John  Motley  Morehead.  Governor  Morehead's  career  has  been  so 
ably  and  amply  reviewed  by  Mr.  Connor  that  it  is  unnecessary  to 
recount  his  many  services  to  his  State.  He  was  one  of  those  remarkable 
men  who  left  an  indelible  impression  upon  his  people,  and  we  should 
hold  his  memory  in  most  grateful  esteem.  Far  sighted  beyond  his  time, 
he  saw  the  needs  of  his  State  with  seerlike  wisdom,  and  with  rare  acumen 
he  planned  a  great  industrial  commonwealth,  and  his  popularity  and 
power  over  the  people  enabled  him  to  put  into  operation  policies  whose 
influence  was  far  reaching  and  whose  benefits  are  still  accruing.  Plans 
that  might  have  been  regarded  as  the  dream  of  a  visionist,  under  his 
master  mind  and  great  executive  ability  became  realities.  His  admin- 
istration was  distinguished  for  the  development  of  commerce,  agricul- 
ture, the  growth  of  the  common  schools  and  the  establishment  of  an  insti- 
tution for  the  deaf  and  dumb  and  blind,  but  it  was  most  famed  for  the 
great  system  of  internal  improvements  with  which  his  name  is  insepar- 
ably linked.  His  greatest  achievement  was  the  building  of  a  trunk  line 
of  railroad  from  the  mountains  to  the  sea — from  Morganton  to  More- 
head  City.  He  was  the  father  of  its  development  and  was  its  first  presi- 
dent. 

This  road  is  the  State's  greatest  single  financial  asset,  valued  today  at 
more  than  $7,000,000  and  built  without  a  cent  of  taxation  of  the  people. 
The  North  Carolina  Railroad  as  planned  by  him  to  connect  the  Mis- 
sissippi with  the  Atlantic  at  Beaufort  Harbor  was  one  of  the  greatest 
projects  of  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  His  heart  and  brain  were 
absorbed  in  uniting  the  East  with  the  West,  establishing  a  community 
of  interest  and  making  a  homogeneous  people,  bound  together  with 
ties  of  steel.  Its  inestimable  service  in  acquainting  the  sections  and 
unifying  our  people  have  been  its  greatest  value  to  our  State.  Its  worth 
can  hardly  be  overestimated. 

Mr.  Joyner,  to  you,  representing  the  State,  I,  as  Chairman  of  the 
North  Carolina  Historical  Commission,  have  the  honor  to  offer  a  bust  of 
this  master  builder  and  great  constructive  statesman,  John  Motley 
Morehead. 


Address  of  Acceptance 


BY    J.    Y.    JOYNEB,    SUPERINTENDENT    OF    PUBLIC    INSTBUCTION. 


Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 

To  me  has  been  assigned,  in  the  absence  of  the  Governor,  the  pleasant 
duty  of  accepting,  on  behalf  of  the  State  of  ^orth  Carolina,  this  marble 
bust  of  John  Motley  Morehead. 

"Peace  hath  her  victories  no  less  renowned  than  war."  This  man 
whose  memory  we  are  met  to  honor  today,  is  facile  princeps  among 
JSTorth  Carolina's  great  leaders  of  those  silent  revolutions  by  which 
alone  are  won  the  greatest  victories  of  peace. 

Father  and  builder  of  the  l!^orth  Carolina  Railroad,  pioneer  manu- 
facturer, promoter  of  inland  waterways  and  public  highways,  successful 
champion  of  public  education  and  of  charitable  institutions,  able  advo- 
cate of  all  that  was  best  industrially,  morally,  and  intellectually  for  his 
people,  gifted  with  the  vision  and  enthusiam  that  characterizes  every 
truly  great  soul,  endowed  with  common  sense,  wisdom,  courage,  force  of 
character,  strength  of  will  and  devotion  to  duty  that  made  him  a  great 
leader  and  a  great  executive  in  public  and  private  business,  he  has  won 
and  merited  his  place  in  ^orth  Carolina  history  among  "the  few,  the 
immortal  names  that  were  not  born  to  die."  His  bust  deserves  this 
honored  niche  in  the  Westminster  Abbey  of  our  State. 

As  his  tongue  v.^as  the  first  to  proclaim  from  the  granite  halls  of  this 
Capitol  [N'orth  Carolina's  declaration  of  commercial  and  industrial 
freedom,  and  to  point  the  way  thereto,  may  the  spirit  of  the  man,  incar- 
nate in  this  sculptured  image,  speak,  trumpet-tongued,  through  these 
marble  lips  to  the  countless  generations  of  noble  youth  that  reverently 
pause  before  it,  and  hearten  them  for  high  endeavor  and  noble  achieve- 
ment. 

In  the  name  of  the  people  of  the  State  that  he  served  vdth  such  dis- 
tinguished ability,  I  now  accept,  with  gratitude  to  the  donors,  this  artistic 
image  of  one  of  her  greatest  Governors  and  noblest  sons. 


